Elitetrack: Sport Training & Conditioning

Poetic justice.  I am sure coach Hart is devastated. 

Unsure whether Wariner’s strategy was to attempt to run down Merritt in the last 100m, but it looked as though he was conserving till then.

This is a good article pertaining to the topic.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/writers/tim_layden/07/04/track.trials.wariner/

tkaberna - 04 July 2008 08:18 PM

This is a good article pertaining to the topic.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/writers/tim_layden/07/04/track.trials.wariner/

“I did it because I felt like it was time for a change.“

Change?  So he wants change from PRing every year and winning nearly every race and championship?  Looks like he’s gonna make less money now than if he would have just kept Hart paying him the normal percentage.

Wariner beat Merritt yesterday in Rome by the slimmest of margins (they essentially tied). Apparently, Merritt actually ran down Wariner in the last 100m. Talk about role reversal! Beijing should be interesting. I’m thinking this might pan out as the most exciting event at the games.

tkaberna - 04 July 2008 03:21 PM

Poetic justice.  I am sure coach Hart is devastated. 

I read somewhere (can’t find it now) that Merritt was now working with Hart. If true…talk about adding more pressure to Wariner!!!

Mike Young - 12 July 2008 02:25 AM

Wariner beat Merritt yesterday in Rome by the slimmest of margins (they essentially tied). Apparently, Merritt actually ran down Wariner in the last 100m. Talk about role reversal! Beijing should be interesting. I’m thinking this might pan out as the most exciting event at the games.

I watched that race live on trackshark and they first announced that Merritt had won. About 5 minutes later they reversed their decision and announced Wariner the winner. crazy.

Mike Young - 12 July 2008 02:26 AM

tkaberna - 04 July 2008 03:21 PM

Poetic justice.  I am sure coach Hart is devastated. 

I read somewhere (can’t find it now) that Merritt was now working with Hart. If true…talk about adding more pressure to Wariner!!!

I saw that too.  How is that possible?  USA trials TV coverage said Hart was still at Baylor (training Sanya) and he was present for almost all of Wariner’s workouts even though he’s not advising him anymore.  How would he be coaching Merritt?  Internet workouts?

Here’s the article that mentions a Merritt and Hart connection. Could be nothing / sloppy reporting: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080705/sp_afp/oly2008athleticsusawariner_080705154955

Mike Young - 12 July 2008 11:32 AM

Here’s the article that mentions a Merritt and Hart connection. Could be nothing / sloppy reporting: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080705/sp_afp/oly2008athleticsusawariner_080705154955

Probably sloppy reporting.  They even asked him about the coaching change post race Oly Trials.  I’m sure if Wariner dropped Hart AND Hart was coaching Merritt the media would have been all over it.

Yeah. I don’t doubt that’s the case. It sure would make for some great drama though…Wariner leaves Hart as number 1 then Hart helps number 2 guy beat Wariner.

New article with more details on the split.

Here’s the most interesting excerpt (IMO) from the entire article:

“I didn’t do it to save a few dollars, to start off with,” Wariner said. “I did it because I felt like it was time for a change. Coach Ford, my new coach, has the same philosophy as coach Hart. My workouts are exactly the same.”

Not true, said Darold Williamson, Wariner’s training partner and a former teammate at Baylor who also cut ties with Hart and hired Ford as his personal coach.

Williamson said Ford’s regimen calls for more sprint work – regular intervals at 100 and 150 meters – which is something Wariner wanted in 2007 despite Hart’s protestations. Wariner continues to toy with the idea of one day competing in the 200 and 400, just like Johnson did.

Hart wanted Wariner to focus exclusively on the 400, and the dynamic between pupil and teacher changed.

“I was always the boss as the coach,” said Mike Nelson, who coached Wariner at Arlington (Texas) Lamar High School. “ … When you get in the pros, he’s your boss because he’s paying you the money. For me that would be a tough situation, to be the coach of a pro athlete.”

Though Williamson said he has not talked to Wariner in detail about the coaching change, he said Ford is less rigid than Hart and open to change.

“Coach Hart has been doing it so long that he’s like, ‘This is what it is and this is what we’re going to do.’ ” Williamson said. “Times have changed. A lot has changed about the race and the people on the track. You can’t just do what you did the last 35 and 40 years.”

Added Minor: “The difference is coach Ford is a lot younger and I think he can kind of relate better to Jeremy and Jeremy can be more comfortable sharing his thoughts and everything with coach Ford.”